Various abbreviations found in the specification are defined as follows:
3GPP third generation partnership projectLTElong term evolutionOFDMAorthogonal frequency division multiple accessUTRA universal territory radio accessUEuser equipmentNode-B base stationeNBevolved Node-BDLdownlink (Node B to UE)ULuplink (UE to Node B)SC-FDMAsingle carrier, frequency division multiple accessMIMOmultiple input, multiple outputSIMOsingle input, multiple outputCRCcyclic redundancy checkVoIPvoice over internet protocolH-ARQhybrid automatic repeat request
A proposed communication system known as evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN, also referred to as UTRAN-LTE or as 3.9G/LTE) is currently under discussion within the 3GPP. The current working assumption is that the DL access technique will be OFDMA, and the UL technique will be SC-FDMA.
Currently, a control channel concept for separately coding the resource allocation signaling is under discussion. At a 3GPP RANI meeting (RAN1#47, Riga, Nov. 6-10, 2006) it was decided to use the following assumptions for the control channel for DL control signaling (see TSG-RAN WG1 #47, R1-063580, “Way Forward On Downlink L1/L2 Control Signaling”):    downlink control signaling is located in the first n OFDM symbols of a sub-frame;    n≦3;    data transmission in the downlink can, at the earliest, begin at the same OFDM symbol as the control signaling ends;    multiple control channels are used;    each control channel is convolutionally coded;    a UE monitors a number of control channels;    one control channel carries information for one MAC ID;    at least two formats (MCS) for control signaling is supported; and    the power setting of each control channel is determined by the Node-B.
Reference may also be had, for example, to TSG-RAN WG1 #47, R1-063147, “Downlink L1/L2 Control Signaling”.
Of particular interest to the exemplary embodiments of this invention that are described below is the encoding structure of the control channel.